Building Trust

Our correspondent today is Eileen Elliott:

Today we began our day with a late start. Our original plan was to wake up at ten in the morning and leave for The Reverend Bill Shaw’s church at eleven. However, once we woke up we received the news that we would not be leaving for the church until three in the afternoon. Our group had free time until then and we were so excited to relax. It was a nice change from our usual hectic schedule. Many of us went back to sleep, while some took the time to work on journals or get a big breakfast. The girls decided to watch a movie and relax. Our relaxation time passed very quickly and we soon had to leave for the 174 Trust, Reverend Shaw’s organization.

Bill Shaw runs 174 Trust which is an organization that brings both Catholic Nationalist and Protestant Loyalist children together to form bonds in a relaxed, safe environment. His belief is that children can change the future by integrating peacefully with each other. Baroness May Blood’s quote seemed appropriate to mention in this instance since she seems to reinforce Reverend Shaw by stating that children are not to be looked upon as future possibilities of change, but rather they are the only thing that matters if an effort for peace is to be realistic. Once we arrived at the church there were two young boys, Chris and Kieran, playing soccer. Everyone introduced themselves and joined in the fun. The church quickly filled with young boys of all different ages and backgrounds. You could not tell any differences between the boys while they were playing soccer. Everything seemed very simple. All of us played soccer with them but soon it was time for dinner. We all had fun talking with the boys, and some of us began to make predictions about what side each boy hailed from. There were certain signs that gave some of the boys away. One boy was terrified to find out that we would be going to a football match between two Catholic teams. He was literally shaking and near tears. This was very disturbing and put a very real face on a terrible reality.

At dinner we enjoyed Dominos Pizza with all of the children we had just played soccer with. The food seemed to be the best meal that the boys had ever had! They were very grateful and no one seemed to care who was who as long as there was food and drink! We sat around the two boys, Chris and Kieran, who were both fifteen years old. They told us about their life at school and about the Eleven-Plus Exam. The exam is taken by all Northern Ireland eleven year old children. The results of the test determine which track the student will follow for the remainder of their school years. If you pass the test you are able to enter Grammar School, which eventually feeds into University. However, if you fail you are basically told you are not good enough and are forced to go to a mediocre school in which it is very unlikely to succeed. Chris and Kieran continued by telling us about the forceful ways their teachers disciplined them. An example they shared was the story about a teacher shooting a student with a staple gun. I could not believe that this was a normal-day occurrence for them. However, this did not seem to weaken Chris and Kieran’s spirit. We finished our conversations and left to go see our first local Irish soccer game.

Once we arrived at the soccer game the stands were filled with people. There were even super fans at the top of the stands screaming for their team. The atmosphere felt like I was back at a Walsh Jesuit football game. There were the young men screaming like crazy and the parents surrounding them. The super fans were even singing similar songs that we do at our own football games. I could not believe that a place that was across an ocean had traditions that were so similar to our own. We were caught up in the fervor of the fans surrounding us and began cheering for their team, the Cliftonville Football Club. The little boy who was terrified to go to the game was still pretty uneasy, but I caught him smiling a few times! Our team was down one point and when we left the score had not changed. We returned back to our dorms for reflection and well deserved sleep.

Goodnight to all of our family and friends.